Melo Had, Probably, one of the best Thanksgiving a NBA player could ask for!! Makes a comeback in the NBA and wins Western Conference Player of The Week helping his new team bounce back from a rocky start. And as much everybody should be enjoying all the celebrations, flashing lights and the good feeling, the Blazers still have a lot more to do. So enjoy what was the month of November because things about to get tougher and its just starting after the clippers.

The game before the facing the Blazers, the Clippers scored 150 points. The fact that they only scored 117 is a positive by itself, kind of, Blazers still loss by 20 points. But what else was truly expected facing the Clippers. When is not Kawhi Leonard going off is Paul George and as a team they still have one of the best bench mobs in the league, if not the best bench mob. Montrezl Harrell scored 26 points and Patrick Patterson scored 19 points. If anything for the Blazers, it was just a reality check of how far they still have to go.

This game when as expected and that’s okay. This week for the Blazers is not an easy one and the faster its all over the better. The Sacramento Kings are next and then it’s the Lakers on Friday night on ESPN, in which all eyes will be on the Melo Vs LBJ matchup. The Blazers will benefit from being at home for the next 4 games and 3 of those t

Vs Lakers (1st of 3 Games) – Melo Vs LBJ, will bring the crowd. Hassan Whiteside will be the X-factor on how he handles AD and the Lakers’ center rotation.

Vs Thunder (Series of 4, Blazers lead 2-0) – if Blazers are able to beat both Kings and Thunder they’ll move ahead of them and closer to 500 and a playoff spot.

Vs Knicks (1st of 2 Games) – The Blazers hosting the Knicks not as exciting as it will be when they play the 2nd game on 1st of the day new year (January 1st, 2020) Carmelo Anthony will make his return to the Garden. Does Melo deserve a tribute video??

The Blazers have a lot to work to do in a limited and very little room for error. The “Melo Hype” will burn out and he’ll settle into a glorify shooter for the team. The goal for the Blazers is the tread water till Lillard is 100% and starts to pick up where left off before injury last year.

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Block Party!! Blazers Win 3rd Straight!!

Whiteside 10 blocks for Portland was a team record that added to the Blazers fire as they go on a 3 game winning streak. Remember Whiteside broke the single game for blocks for the Heat with 12 against Chicago back in 2015. Whiteside now has 5 games of at least 10 blocks in his career. Whiteside made it to 783 blocks in his time with the Heat, it looks like he packed that and brought it over to Portland.

While Whiteside handle the defense, the rest of the starting line-up Carmelo Anthony (23 Pts), Rodney Hood (19 Pts), CJ McCollum (20 Pts) and Damian Lillard (28 Pts) combined for 90 of the 107 scored. Something is either working very well for the Blazers or they just seem to play better against the Bulls. Wins are wins and the Blazers can use all the momentum they can get.

The Bulls dropped their 3rd straight game and fall to 8 games under 500. Zach LeVine has been a scoring machine but doesn’t seem to be enough. Bulls are still young and Coby White is showing that scoring and playmaking flashes of how special he is.

The Blazers have a tough coming up @ Clippers and then back home to face Kings and Lakers. The Clippers and Lakers will be a huge test for the Blazers facing, arguably, the best 2 teams in the West in the same week. But hey, with a healthy Lillard leading the scoring, Melo contributing wherever he can (MORE DOUBLE-DOUBLEs) and Whiteside and McCollum filling in everywhere they can, the Blazers are looking better. And that’s why counts, for now.

Can Miami knock out the Sixers?

By Kevin Bertalotto. April 11th 2018.

Although the Philadelphia 76ers led by Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons and all star Joel Embiid have a better record and has home court advantage against the Heat, there are reasons to believe that is not enough to eliminate the Miami Heat. In the 4 meetings both teams have won their home games so it’s tied 2-2, but in those 4 games here are their stats vs each other: Sixers 101.8ppg on 43% shooting vs Heat’s 102.3ppg on 44% shooting. BOTH average 11 made 3s vs one another, Philly does avg more rebounds and assists but more turnovers.

Bench

The Heat may not have the biggest names on the bench but surely they step up when needed. The Heat’s bench averages 44ppg vs the Sixers, 40.1ppg overall. Meanwhile the Sixers’s bench averaged 29.8ppg vs Miami, 30 overall. With Wayne Ellington it is no surprise the Heat’s bench averages more 3s. ANOTHER advantage Miami’s bench has is rebounding, they average about 5 more vs the Sixers bench.

Factors

Having playoff experience is a plus and so is being young and hungry. Miami has both, they missed the playoffs last yr by 1 game due to them not owning the tiebreaker so you know they want to play extra hard. Based off preseason predictions NOBODY had the Sixers being top 5, many had them winning 40 games so there was no real pressure, something the “FEDS” have yet to experience in this league. Miami may not have a lot more playoff experience but certainly more. Spoelstra was there for 3 rings, Brett Brown never made the playoffs as the head coach. And let’s not forget Embiid is still hurt and even best case scenario Embiid still misses Game 1 which would allow the Heat to steal a game on the road.

DEFENSE

Facing the Heat in 3 games, Joel has averaged about 19 and on 41% shooting which is a 7% dip. Not only do have Troell Embiid and Whiteside on court but also on social media, so both are extra hyped. When guarded by Hassan in 94 possessions Joel shot 13/28 including 6/11 on 3s. While Embiid is guarding Hassan, Whiteside shot 11/18 in 93 possessions. Sure nobody on Miami can stop Ben Simmons, however due to depth we can tire him out by having 4 different defenders on him throughout the game and if needed to we can do hack-a- Ben Simmons since his FT% is 56%.

Crunch time

Considering these two also keep it close and are evenly matched it is important to see how well these two do in crunch time. In the last 5 mins game within 5 Miami holds their opponent to 38% shooting, 22% on 3s and forced 49 turnovers. The Sixers in that time frame held their opponent to 37% shooting, 33% on 3s and forced 39 turnovers. Both average 7.7ppg in crunch time with an exact 1.0 +/-. Miami is 28-24 vs Sixers 25-19 in close games.

Who will win?

Based off all this information and considering every factor I feel confident in taking the 6th seeded Miami Heat in 6 or 7, but if the Sixers are as good as they are hyped, Philly SHOULD win this series but will they? Hopefully we’ll find out.

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